Author Archives: Alex Strandberg

A Historical Perspective of Ithaca Housing

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On Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe where John Schroder led a discussion about Ithaca’s housing developments from the 1880s to present-day. I learned a lot about Ithaca’s past during this talk. For example, when Cornell was first founded, nearly all students lived with their families in homes rather than in dormitories. Also, College Avenue originally did not connect Cornell to Collegetown; a bridge was later built as enrollment grew and the need to be connected to a fire station emerged.

We explored the housing challenges in recent years, as Cornell enrollment rises and apartment buildings are being built and torn down. Rent rates have skyrocketed since the 1980s with the first big development in Collegetown – the Eddy Gate apartments. People have always hoped that the construction of new apartments would bring new competition and therefore lower rents. However, the housing situation is not really a free market, as most of the real estate is owned by a small number of people, resulting in an oligarchy. In addition, Cornell does not pay property taxes since it is a nonprofit, while still using public services like fire and police departments. As a result, Ithaca residents pay higher property taxes (directly or through higher rents). These high taxes ultimately drive some people away from Ithaca into nearby communities.

A few days before this Rose Cafe, Cornell announced a plan for new on-campus housing on North Campus, with 2,000 new beds being completed by 2021. We analyzed the difficulties of maintaining Cornell’s existing housing, particularly the older Gothic buildings. While 2,000 beds seem like a step in the right direction, Cornell will gradually expand enrollment by 1,000 students and take existing dormitories like Balch Hall offline for much-needed, lengthy repairs. I hope that the housing situation will improve with plans like this one, and I look forward to more events like this Rose Cafe to learn more about Ithaca and our community.

Online Persona Crash Course

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On Thursday, I attended the Rose Seminar on building and maintaining a professional or academic online persona. Although I had some experience with this topic since I have a LinkedIn and personal website, this seminar helped me to look back on the online personas I already have and identify ways to improve them. GRF Sam went over some basic principles for online personas while also providing specific tips for the various platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

He emphasized familiarity, consistency, and participation to build an effective online presence. We learned to make sure we understand how our data is used on these sites, to use the same voice/image across multiple platforms, and to participate actively on each platform we use. Regarding Facebook, Sam encouraged us to review our photos and privacy settings to ensure that only the information we want to be visible is viewable by others.

Sam emphasized differentiating yourself from others on LinkedIn especially, since many people are a “[Class Year] [X] Major at Cornell University.” In addition, to ensure consistency across platforms, we should pick a profile URL that is close to our professional names and use this username across all platforms.

One interesting thing I learned was that we can use Google Alerts to be notified when search results for our professional name/email change. Having differentiated online personas will help to bring them to the top of search results for your professional name.

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to write an online bio and receive feedback from Sam and my peers. As we include our name, current position, department, employer/institution, and specific achievements or interests, Sam recommended we keep in mind the context, audience, and purpose of the bio we’re writing. For example, Twitter bios are short and to-the-point. The audience of our bios is colleagues and professionals occupying the jobs or positions we’re pursuing. The bios will give readers a sense of who you are, your background, and the experiences that qualify you as a potential hire.

One of the last points I took away from this seminar was to always respond to personalized emails/messages about career opportunities even if we’re not interested at the moment. A simple thank-you message saying you will keep the information in mind for the future can go a long way and help you get a job in the future. Overall, I really enjoyed this seminar (as well as the seminars from last semester), and I look forward to attending more events like this one later in the semester and sharpening these skills.

Destigmatizing “Disability”

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Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe where Erin Sember-Chase discussed disabilities in general as well as how the Student Disabilities Services office works with students with disabilities. I was surprised to hear that one-fifth of all Americans have a disability and that the Americans with Disabilities Act was only passed recently, in 1990.

I really enjoyed hearing Sember-Chase’s experience of going to college with her hearing impediment just after the ADA was passed. She explained how there was no student disabilities office at that time, and had to fight for her theater professor to wear a microphone in a 100 person lecture hall. In addition, her use of a hearing service dog was met with criticism at countless restaurants and shops initially.

Sember-Chase also explained how students with non-visible disabilities (the majority of student disabilities registered with SDS) receive testing accommodations for extended time or separate rooms among others. We discussed how many people view these accommodations as giving the students an advantage over others, while in reality, it levels the playing field. For example, a student who needs twice as long to read an essay prompt should receive additional time to do so.

We also talked about the various stigmas of disabilities. Professors try to reduce the stigma academically with syllabi that openly invite students to email the professor if they need accommodations. Sember-Chase raised the question of how students can reduce these stigmas, and I think we can accomplish this with more conversations like this Rose Cafe, so that those with disabilities are not discriminated against and are not defined by their disability.

What is Fake News?

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Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe where Professor Schwarz discussed the topic of fake news.  I enjoyed how he took the time to examine the different kinds of fake news, from articles written with a bias to articles that contain outright false information.  One of the key points I took away from the talk was how fake news is not just in news media communications but in gossip, social media, and other parts of daily conversation.  Professor Schwarz also emphasized how we should speak out against others spreading stereotypes or hurtful gossip and rumors, or else we will continue letting fake news spread.  

What I thought about during the talk was how the rise of the Internet and other technologies has changed the way we communicate and digest information.  Long ago, people would have to wait until a newspaper was printed daily to learn about news that recently happened.  Today, barely moments after a newsworthy event happens, we can receive updates on our phones in real-time.  While this is positive in many ways, the Internet also poses challenges, namely, that anyone can post anything he or she wishes online with no approval process.  With a paper newspaper, it was expected that only top-quality journalism would make its way to newspaper stands.  With the Internet, all it takes is a few clicks to edit an article to correct it (with more effort needed to find older versions).  After these clicks, there may be no indication that incorrect information was expunged from an article, underscoring our need to be cautious of what we read online.  Overall, this talk emphasized how important it is to only seek out information from reliable sources and to do our best to prevent disreputable sources from spreading false information.  

Agriculture and Economics

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Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe where Ruth Magreta discussed her research and fascinating personal journey growing up in rural Malawi to becoming a doctoral student.  She first discussed her childhood growing up in a village with no running water or electricity.  She had many responsibilities at home, including cooking for her seven siblings and walking miles to get to the market.  What struck me was that after she described one of the hardships in her life, she added that she became comfortable with these conditions, with a smile on her face.  

While many children in her village faced struggles that caused them to drop out of school, Magreta persevered all the way to university.  I was inspired by her story of a revelation she made with her father: all of our natural resources last forever “only if we take good care of them.”  This story encouraged her desire to study agricultural economics, and she now studies the role of agriculture in Malawi.  

Magreta brought up an important point about maize, Malawi’s staple crop.  Although maize is a key income generating crop, droughts can cause up to half of the harvest to be lost.  When droughts strike, farmers find themselves with no income stream, putting strains on their families, particularly when paying for school.  Magreta is pushing for agricultural banks which can help loan money and/or resources for farmers to store surplus crops and provide insurance during droughts to prevent income instability.  

Magreta also discussed how the climate is changing in Malawi, with significant deforestation, floods, and droughts.  This discussion encourages all of us to be responsible stewards on Earth to protect these farmers’ livelihoods which in turn affect everyone’s lives.  

No One Left Behind

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On Friday, Flora’s Friday Film showed The Martian, a 2015 science fiction film depicting an astronaut who was mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on a manned space mission to Mars, his miraculous survival, and the extraordinary attempt by NASA and his fellow astronauts to save his life and bring him home.  A space storm picked up in magnitude ahead of schedule, leaving the team to scramble to abort their mission and return to Earth.  During the ordeal, the protagonist Mark Watney is struck by an object that pierces his space suit.  Miraculously, Watney survives and finds a way to communicate with Earth while farming potatoes on Mars.  However, he cannot survive for too long on Mars, as his supplies will run out in about two years.  Given the great distance between Earth and Mars and the limitations of NASA and space travel, rescuing Watney would be a difficult challenge.  

What struck me most while watching this movie was the lengths to which the scientists at NASA and the astronauts on the spaceship home to Earth were willing to go to try and save Watney.  Because of the magnitude and abruptness of the storm, having five out of six astronauts make it back to the spaceship alive was an amazing feat in and of itself.  However, when they found out that Watney was still alive, they dropped everything to find a way to bring him home.  Thousands of hours were spent overtime to prepare a rocket with extra supplies to be sent to him.  Hundreds of people were carefully analyzing his activity on Mars and communicating with him, as the world earnestly hoped for his return home.  

This effort reminded me of the Parable of the Lost Sheep, where a shepherd with a hundred sheep loses one and leaves the ninety-nine in one place in search of the lost one.  When the shepherd returns with the lost sheep, everyone rejoices.  NASA could have been satisfied with five out of six astronauts making it back safely to Earth after facing tumultuous conditions.  However, they viewed bringing Mark Watney home safely as worth the significant cost to do so.  I think the film is encouraging us to look to those lost or forgotten in our society and to do our best to improve their lives.  

Remember This?

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On Friday, Flora’s Friday Film showed an episode of Black Mirror, a British science fiction series that examines the unexpected consequences of advancements in technology.  We watched the episode “The Entire History of You” which centered around an implant that allows people to record what they see and hear every moment of their lives, while having the option to delete any records if desired.  The protagonist Liam obsessively analyzes situations at work and at home when things do not seem to be going his way.  For example, he compares how his wife behaves around her former boyfriend and him at a party.  Liam has suspicions that his wife was cheating on him, and he ultimately proved this to be true in a heated discussion and viewing of her wife’s memory implant records.  

The episode raised several important questions, which we discussed with GRF Ty afterwards.  For example, would we want this kind of technology (an implant) if it existed in our society?  While thinking about the answer to this question, I thought how, to a certain extent, this technology already exists in our society.  How easy is it to find someone with his or her phone out on the street taking a picture or video?  And with wearable technology like Google Glass, it is even more effortless to record the world around us from our perspective.  Not to mention how many security cameras monitor people in public places at every moment.  

As a Computer Science major, I felt a strong connection to this episode, realizing the impact software and technology have on our lives.  Often, people obsess over what they have posted online in the past, going to great lengths to try and expunge content they do not want to see anymore.  Why do we obsess over the past when we cannot change it?  I think this episode is making the point that we should be wary of our tendency to fixate on memories of the past, so I would say instead we should focus on how we can positively impact the future.